O’Rourke files for city commission seat
Four months ago, BocaWatch Editor Andrea O’Rourke told me “on the record” that she would not run for a city council seat in March.
Oops.
O’Rourke told me Wednesday that has filed for Seat B. Incumbent Michael Mullaugh is term-limited in March. O’Rourke said she would resign from BocaWatch effective Sept. 1. She is the only candidate to have filed for the seat.
Boca vs. Park District: the latest
With Boca Raton and the Greater Boca Raton Beach & Park District unable to resolve disputes about their respective 2016-17 budgets and the agreement under which both operate parks, the city’s top administrators are pushing back against the district board and the district’s interim—four years running¸—director.
Because there has been no meeting between the city council and the district board, communication—such as it is —comes during individual meetings and appearances by board members before the council.
Board member Dennis Frisch spoke during public requests at the July 26 council meeting. He appeared, Frisch said, to correct “mischaracterizations” of the district. He blamed the gridlock on the city’s lack of cooperation. “Nobody’s trying to negotiate.” Instead, “We’re swapping paper.” The joint meeting could have happened the day before, Frisch said, but the council backed off because of the previously scheduled Community Redevelopment Agency meeting, which Frisch said lasted only an hour.
After Frisch spoke, Councilman Robert Weinroth told Frisch that a council workshop followed the CRA meeting— as it normally does—and lasted until 6 p.m. Weinroth did praise Frisch for “doing his duty” as a district commissioner and said, “We’re on the same team.”
Last week, City Manager Leif Ahnell emailed council members to say that Frisch’s statements “contained a number of inaccuracies and/or misrepresentations.”
Among them, Ahnell said:
— “Commissioner Frisch referenced the Interlocal Beach Agreement that was executed by the district in June 2015 and provided to the city. He failed to note that the district had received that draft agreement about two years earlier (May 2013), and the city had received no comments about the draft agreement until it was executed (about two years later), so it was a bit of a surprise when the city received the executed agreements.”
The city, Ahnell said, wanted to expand the agreement to include “additional beach projects and costs, such as the emergency dune stabilization plan. . .and engineering expenses of the beach projects.” So the city sent back a new agreement last November. Ahnell said city staff met with the district’s interim director, Art Koski, early this year, but “the city has not received any comments on the draft November 2015 agreement, other than District Commissioner (Bob) Rollins noting that the district cannot commit to a long-range agreement at this time.”
Further, Ahnell said, Rollins and Koski had “verbally stated” that the district would pay half of the project to renourish the central beach, “but when the city sent the invoice. . .that there should be an interlocal agreement for the project before they would be able to pay.”
— With regard to the interlocal agreement on park management, Ahnell said that in 2013, “based on discussions between the district and the city,” the city sent the district documents for construction of new natural turf fields at de Hoernle Park and for replacement of the natural turf fields at Patch Reef Park with artificial turf.
The district, Ahnell said, agreed to the amendment on de Hoernle Park but not the one on Patch Reef Park. Mayor Susan Haynie said the turf issue helped to touch off the current, long-running dispute.
Within the turf issue is the city’s goal of establishing a master agreement that consolidates the seven that now exist between the city and the district. According to Ahnell, the city sent a draft of a master agreement to the district last November. Ahnell said the proposal set a “framework for future capital projects” and “resolved some of the existing operational conflicts between the city and the district by defining the roles of each body.”
Rather than provide comments, Rollins offered a revised agreement at a council meeting. Weinroth asked for a “redlined” version – showing the changes. That’s how it works in Tallahassee when legislation is amended. “Although Rollins said that they would forward one the next day,” Ahnell said, Koski said no such version was available. City staff created one, and as of Wednesday review of it was not complete.
— Regarding the elusive city-district meeting, Ahnell reiterated Weinroth’s comments to Frisch at the July 26 council meeting. Frisch suggested that the council and the district use Meeting Wizard to find a time suitable to all 10 council members and board members.
— Regarding de Hoernle Park, Ahnell said that despite Frisch’s comment about proceeding with the second phase of construction, the “direction” had been to first complete that new, expanded interlocal agreement. Now that discussion of new fields has started, Ahnell said, “there have been discussions regarding the needs of the city, and, instead of additional fields, using all or part of that area for police and other city operations.
Ahnell concluded his email by saying, “Despite claims to the contrary, there continue to be operational disagreements between the city and the district, including (in no particular order):
“The role of the district in operations (scheduling fields, debating field closures, etc.);
“The differing fee structures of the city and the district;
“The number of non-residents in recreation activities (and the amount they should pay to participate);
“Budgeting/payment issues (capital purchases, monthly invoices and payments, admin fees, etc.);
“Staff communication.”
From the district’s standpoint, “staff” basically means Koski, who also serves as the district’s attorney. Mayor Susan Haynie dates the breakdown in relations to the departure four years ago—for health reasons—of longtime executive director Robert Langford.
Koski, who also serves as the district’s attorney and construction manager and makes $330,00 a year, according to Rollins, isn’t leaving until January, after elections for two board seats. The budget year for the city and district, though, begins Oct. 1. However it happens, someone has to start negotiating.
And it escalates…
As if there weren’t enough issues dividing Boca Raton and the beach and park district, now there’s another.
Koski has proposed a budget that would cut the district’s property tax rate from roughly 97 cents per $1,000 of assessed value to about 91 cents. City Attorney Diana Grub Frieser, however, suspected that the district is able to offer that tax cut only by illegally reducing payments to the Boca Raton Community Development Agency.
This is the issue:
Any increase in property tax revenue from within a community redevelopment agency must stay within the agency. It’s called tax-increment financing.
That applies to any agency that levies a tax within a CRA. The beach and park district does so. Therefore, the district must send any increase in revenue between this year and next year to the Boca Raton CRA. That’s state law.
On July 15, Rollins sent a letter CRA Chairman/council member Scott Singer saying that the district intended to hold a public hearing on Aug. 22. Rollins said the district “may limit” its CRA payment next year to what the district paid this year, even though property values have increased.
Frieser emailed Koski on July 29 that she had been unable to reach him to discuss the matter. Last Wednesday, Frieser emailed city council members and top administrators to say that she still had not heard back from Koski. Though the district seemed to be claiming that agencies could limit payments in some cases, Frieser noted that the exception does not apply to CRAs that were created before 2006. Boca Raton’s dates to 1980.
Frieser said she would “update the council if I receive any clarification regarding the district’s intent.” That intent may change soon. District board chairman Bob Rollins told me Wednesday that he had spoken with Koski about the CRA money, and that the board at its meeting Monday “may walk back” the idea of cutting the payment.
So here’s who’s running for board seats
As you can see, the timing could not be better for a debate among the six candidates for two seats on the Greater Boca Raton Beach & Park District board. That debate will take place from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. tonight at the Boca Raton Community Center.
BocaWatch is sponsoring the debate. I will moderate it. All the candidates have indicated that they will appear.
New Delray assistant manager
City Manager Don Cooper has chosen his new assistant city manager. Dale Sugermen, Cooper told me this week, will start Aug. 22.
Sugermen certainly knows the area. He spent nearly 11 years as an assistant city manager in Boynton Beach, and then was town manager in Highland Beach for six years. He became town manager in Lake Park, near Palm Beach Gardens, in 2012 and stayed until retiring this year.
Cooper said Sugerman will supervise the Environmental Services and Community Improvement departments. The other assistant, Francine Ramaglia, will supervise the departments of Planning, Zoning and Building, Human Resources, Information Technology and Economic Development.
Cooper will continue to supervise the police and fire departments, along with Finance and Purchasing and the clerk’s office. Cooper also will retain supervision of the Parks and Recreation Department. He took over that responsibility when Sugerman’s predecessor mishandled a dispute between the directors of Parks and Recreation and Human Resources.
And that absentee ballot fraud…
Since I reported last week that Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Susan Bucher was speaking with law enforcement authorities about absentee ballot suspicions, there have been developments.
The Sun-Sentinel and The Palm Beach Post reported that the Florida Department of Law Enforcement is examining collections of absentee ballots. No one will say what campaigns are under review, but opponents have accused Mack Bernard, running for County Commission District 7 and Al Jacquet, running for Florida House District 88. Jacquet is a member of the Delray Beach City Commission. Bernard served on the commission earlier.
The opponents charge that the improper collections have occurred in Haitian-American neighborhoods. Bernard and Jacquet are Haitian-American. Both districts include Haitian-American neighborhoods in Delray Beach, Boynton Beach and cities farther north.
Four years ago, Bernard lost a Florida Senate race in which elections officials questioned the validity of absentee ballots for him. In 2014, Jacquet used a wide margin in absentees to keep his commission seat despite losing among voters who went to the polls.
